Quotes

A collection of scriptural meditations from Saints and Fathers of the Church.

Possessions

It is impossible for the soul to be liberated from turbulent thoughts without the virtue of non-possessiveness. And without peace of the bodily senses it is impossible for the soul to have a peaceful intellect. And if it does not come into temptations it will not acquire wisdom of the Holy Spirit. And without laborious and persistence in reading, it will not come to the discernment of thoughts. And without the stillness of thoughts, the intellect cannot move to seek the hidden mysteries of God.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Self-Control

If you lay down rules for yourself, do not disobey yourself; for he who cheats himself is self-deluded.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Possessions

The fathers say that a man who sets store by the gold and silver he can amass does not believe that there is a God who provides for him.

St. Nilus of Sora

Simplicity

Blessed are those who, from love of God, have girded their loins with unquestioning simplicity for this sea of suffering, and who do not turn back.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Possessions

The desire for possessions is dangerous and terrible, knowing no satiety; it drives the soul which it controls to the heights of evil. Therefore, let us drive it away vigorously from the beginning. For once it has become master it cannot be overcome.

St. Isidore of Pelusium

Possessions

A lover of riches is never satisfied, no matter how many possessions he accumulates, but the more he acquires daily, the more his appetite increases; and a person forcibly pulled away from a stream of pure water before he has quenched his thirst feels even more thirsty. In a similar way, once one has experienced the taste of God, one can never be satisfied or have enough of it, but however much one is enriched by this wealth one still feels oneself to be poor. Christians do not set great store by their own lives, but regard themselves rather as rightly set at nought by God and as everyone’s servants.

St. Macarius the Great

Simplicity

Live simply and God will not leave you...

St. Leonid of Optina

Simplicity

Where there is simplicity, there are a hundred Angels, but where there is cleverness – there are none.

St. Ambrose of Optina

Possessions

All other possessions do not really belong to the one who has them or to the one who has acquired them for they are exchanged back and forth like a game of dice. Only virtue among our possessions cannot be taken away, but remains with us when we live and when we die.

St. Basil the Great

Possessions

Do not the angels differ from us in this respect, that they do not want so many things as we do? Therefore the less we need, the more we are on our way to them; the more we need, the more we sink down to this perishable life.

St. John Chrysostom

Self-Control

Love and self-control purify the soul.

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Self-Control

Control your stomach, sleep, anger, and tongue, and you will not 'dash your foot against a stone.'

St. Thalassios the Libyan

Simplicity

Let all of us who wish to attract the Lord to ourselves draw near to Him as disciples to the Master, simply, without hypocrisy, without duplicity or guile, not out of idle curiosity. He Himself is simple and not composite, and He wants souls that come to Him to be simple and guileless. For you will surely never see simplicity bereft of humility.

St. John Climacus

Self-Control

No virtue makes flesh-bound man so like a spiritual angel as does self-restraint, for it enables those still living on earth to become, as the Apostle says, 'citizens of heaven' (cf. Phil. 3:20).

St. John Cassian

Self-Control

Lack of self-control is actually an evil both ancient and modern, though it did not precede its antidote, fasting. By means of our Forefathers' self-indulgence in paradise and their contempt for the fast already in existance there, death entered the world. Sin reigned and brought in the condemnation of our nature from Adam until Christ.

St. Gregory Palamas

Possessions

A man who has embraced poverty offers up prayer that is pure, while a man who loves possessions prays to material images.

St. John Climacus

Simplicity

Walk before God in simplicity, and not in subtleties of the mind. Simplicity brings faith; but subtle and intricate speculations bring conceit; and conceit brings withdrawal from God.

St. Isaac the Syrian

Vocation

Strive to walk worthily of the vocation to which you were called.

St. Philotheus of Sinai

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If you lay down rules for yourself, do not disobey yourself; for he who cheats himself is self-deluded.

The fathers say that a man who sets store by the gold and silver he can amass does not believe that there is a God who provides for him.

Blessed are those who, from love of God, have girded their loins with unquestioning simplicity for this sea of suffering, and who do not turn back.

The desire for possessions is dangerous and terrible, knowing no satiety; it drives the soul which it controls to the heights of evil. Therefore, let us drive it away vigorously from the beginning. For once it has become master it cannot be overcome.

Live simply and God will not leave you...

Where there is simplicity, there are a hundred Angels, but where there is cleverness – there are none.

All other possessions do not really belong to the one who has them or to the one who has acquired them for they are exchanged back and forth like a game of dice. Only virtue among our possessions cannot be taken away, but remains with us when we live and when we die.

Do not the angels differ from us in this respect, that they do not want so many things as we do? Therefore the less we need, the more we are on our way to them; the more we need, the more we sink down to this perishable life.

Love and self-control purify the soul.

Control your stomach, sleep, anger, and tongue, and you will not 'dash your foot against a stone.'

No virtue makes flesh-bound man so like a spiritual angel as does self-restraint, for it enables those still living on earth to become, as the Apostle says, 'citizens of heaven' (cf. Phil. 3:20).

A man who has embraced poverty offers up prayer that is pure, while a man who loves possessions prays to material images.

Walk before God in simplicity, and not in subtleties of the mind. Simplicity brings faith; but subtle and intricate speculations bring conceit; and conceit brings withdrawal from God.

Strive to walk worthily of the vocation to which you were called.

"No one can be saved without the renunciation of his will, even though he might struggle fervently, for our will and our manner are like a bronze wall between us and God."

St. Paisius Velichkovsky, Field Flowers

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